Little Johnny Howler has entered into a new phase of nationalisation with this proposed takeover of yet another State responsibility. It’s interesting from a variety of perspectives, most prominently because Howard regards himself as a conservative, and his politics over the past ten years have proven that increasingly. Now he wants to appear to be adopting a socialist agenda by stripping away State responsibilities. First industrial relations. Now water. What’s next, Bannerman wonders? Health? It’s been long mooted and sponsored by some.

But is this just a game by Howard? An election year punt on the emotive issue of water, especially given that most of the country is in, at the least, level three restrictions. Water is the new gold. The new economic counter ready to be played. It appears to the Bannerman that Little Johnny Howler is all too ready to play it for political purposes, but does his proposed plan really mean anything for water conservation and distribution in this country? For all the loud noises about returning water to the Murray-Darling to date, very little has been achieved, or spent. This is why Bannerman is so jaundiced on this new found conservationists agenda. 2007 is an election year. Let’s never forget that, reader. Where the federal government can be seen to be giving away something, anything, it will. Water is just another commodity in the conservative war-chest.